Samsung Galaxy S II AT&T Review

0.phoneArena27 Sep 2011, 06:24posted on

It can be considered a long time in the making, even more when the original model launched overseas a few months ago, but AT&T customers are undoubtedly going to satiate their appetites with the Samsung Galaxy S II. So you might want to sit kick back and stand still, because if you happen to flinch for a mere second, you might simply find the Samsung Galaxy S II too darn fast for you to handle...

This is a discussion for a review. To read the whole review, click here

"...with the WVGA resolution of the handset, it’s beginning to show its age when we’re finding ourselves zooming in to properly view text within the web browser."

ohh cmooon. this is ridiculous. who could see a single pixelation (especially at texts) on a 4,3" 480x800 samoplus display? browsers don't even let you zoom in that much. :D and WVGA is a con? this is just pure casuistry.
STILL this statement could well be true in case of pictures. but text? fonts? meh...

I have a QHD screen and even though it's higher res, I'd rather have a lower res SAMOLED+.

All things being equal, I'd take SAMOLED+ over 300+ppi any day. 300+ppi sounds nice on paper, but it's just a spec and in the real world, most people aren't holding the phone 2 inches from their faces.

I stand by PhoneArena on this one. Witnessing web browsing on qHD and Retina displays, WVGA is definitely lagging (especially on a large 4.3" display).

I also think that your argument should be reversed. Text is annoying when it's fuzzy. Ever watch the news in standard definition with the ticker scrolling across the screen? Much easier to read on an HDTV.

Some would say photos are equally important to view in high-resolution. In general, it makes sense to leave the WVGA resolution as a con. In fact, I would be interested if the Exynos/graphics processor would exhibit equal performance if the resolution was upped to qHD.

What you list as "vibrant" is actually color saturation, which is really a debatable pro/con. Some people prefer more natural looking colors, some prefer the pop of saturated colors.

When I see WVGA on a 4.3" screen next to a Retina or 4.3" qHD display I see a world of difference in pixel density and text readability on the same web page. Not sure if you have done this type of comparison before.

720p will be awesome and just about overkill. Agreed 1080p will be overkill, and marketers will plaster the FULL HD marking all over ads.

uhh have you actually used an iOS device with the retina display?? it makes a huge difference when reading text. don't get me wrong, colors etc look amazing on super amoled plus, but high res and high PPI is key for readability on phones.
i literally brought up the main phone arena page on a 3.5" iPhone 4s and a 4.3" focus s(super amoled plus). Fully zoomed out i could just read the text on the iPhone 4s, yet it was too blurry on the focus s. This alone proves that the retina display was not a gimmick, and it serves more of a purpose than just getting rid of jaggies. It truly hits the limit of what the human eye can make out on the screen, anymore resolution would not have made the text anymore readable IMO because at that point it would be too small for my eyes.
if you are just looking at pics and video, i think the colors and contrast on the super amoled plus will be better. but if you are looking at text or browsing the web, you will realize that a bigger screen does not mean easier reading. at 4.3" i think you would need around a 1280x720 screen to again hit the mark where you are seeing as much detail as the human eye can handle(obviously using the same resolution as the retina will give you just as clear text, but with a bigger screen your eye could see even more detail given more resolution) this is one reason i am very interested in the htc rezound!

Disappointed that AT&T handicapped TouchWiz...I'Ve played with the Epic Touch and it's the screen, the thin form factor, cameras, the gestures, the speed and the UI widgets etc that differentiate this device from the other android devices. I am debating on ordering the international Galaxy S II or checking out the next iPhone...the Captivate turned out to be a major disappointment...ready for a new phone.

Dear Phonearena. Definetly all your reviews on the GS2 will be 9 because you don't have a choice. This handset is very cool & it's the best on the market. I own the international version and I'm very happy with my purchase.

I am not the biggest fan of the design, but I have the international version and it is pretty darn fast, despite its design, you know, is only THIN and LIGHT. Also, the ridiculous WVGA display on 4.3-inch device NOW!? Samsung should knock their heads against the wall! THEY NEED TO WAKE UP! I love the speed, I really do, but something like the HTC Sensation and LG Optimus 2x (T-Mobile G2X) are better, in my opinion.

Agreed about the call quality. All phones (smart or not) should have perfect call quality.

Sounds like a lot of improvements over the Infuse. Better camera, dual-core processor, perfect screen size (not too big), gingerbread out of the box, NFC (maybe?). That's just off the top of my head. IMHO, the Infuse was a release to keep AT&T customers salivating in anticipation for the GSII.

So, if the phone is capable of only 14.4, then there you go.
I know T-Mo has phone capable of more, and that they are upgrading the network to HSPA+48. AT&T upgrades slowly, thus the reason why they want to buy T-MO.

This phone is HSDPA 21 Mbit/s. Most of the network is probably a step behind.

Who cares about a handicapped TouchWiz....just root the phone and go grab TouchWiz over at XDA. Call Quality rating has to be questioned....every phone is tested only in Philly. I have an SGSI in California and its call quality is outstanding, so I can only imagine that the SGS2 call quality will be fine. Seems like an excellent phone. Do you wait for Samsung to produce an SGS phone with a 3D screen, and a higher rez front facing camera, or take this one? Must suck to be an INFUSE user, and then see this phone out on the market only a few short months later.

I find this review to be very contradictory. The phone is dogged, then says it's top-notch.
I was looking forward to this phone for months and now this review makes me feel like the phone is sub-par on many levels. Like the processor is the only upgrade from the Captivate. Think I'm gonna call my AT&T store and tell them to forget it. :(

Reading what I typed...looks to be more than a few reasons, I initially was only gonna put 2...lol

The GPS and lag due to the file system might didnt effect everyone but it effected enough ppl that they were legitimate problems. The screen, GPS and lag issue alone makes it worth upgrading from the Captivate.

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